U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrested over 41,000 illegal immigrants between January 22 and April 29, the 100 days following President Donald Trump’s executive order on stricter illegal-immigration enforcement. In comparison to the same period in 2016 under the Obama administration, there was a 37.6 percent increase in arrests.
According to the ICE report released last week, nearly 75 percent of those arrested under the Trump administration were convicted criminals; more than 2,700 of them were convicted of violent crimes such as rape, homicide, kidnapping, and assault.
“ICE agents and officers have been given clear direction to focus on threats to public safety and national security,” said ICE acting director Thomas Homan, “which has resulted in a substantial increase in the arrest of convicted criminal aliens.”
“However,” Homan added, “when we encounter others who are in the country unlawfully, we will execute our sworn duty and enforce the law.”
Indeed, ICE officers did not shy away from increasing the number of arrests involving illegal immigrants without criminal records. There were 10,845 illegal immigrants without criminal records arrested between January 22 and April 29 under the Trump administration, a stark contrast to the 4,242 arrested under the Obama administration. Which is to say that the number of illegal immigrants arrested who had no criminal record soared 156 percent in just one year.
The ICE report comes one week after the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency announced that the number of illegal immigrants apprehended at the southwest boarder had decreased significantly under the Trump administration. “People in Central America are waiting and watching what happens rather than taking the long journey,” Department of Homeland Security spokesman David Lapan explained, adding, “When you get here, it’s likely you will be caught and returned to your country.”
The Trump administration seems to be fulling its promise: to address the issue of illegal immigration, both at the border and within our cities.